5 comments about It's a Wonderful Christmas.

1. Michael W. Smith fans enjoy this c.d. full of their favorite hero's best stuff. For some 25 years or so, he has been composing a grand style of orchestral flourishes that I think I would have imagined composing myself when I was say 8 or 9 years old -- if I had known anything about music, that is. I think Michael W. has a glorious musical gift that needs a couple things:
   1) He should not sing his own music. It requires a larger voice.
   2) He needs to find a more solid definitive expression for the sounds he is being moved to put to music. Somehow, there is something better that is not quite getting all the way formed.
   
   There is no doubt that he knows from where his inspiration comes. I would encourage him to spend some time letting the Spirit-to-spirit connection grow stonger and then letting himself be led through different musical expressions to find better ways to reveal it. He might start with other voices and with smaller assemblages of instruments, finding something that is true before drowning it with large orchestrations.
   
   That said, it is still true that folks that have liked Michael W. Smith recordings before will play this one over and over and over. My bride opened it Christmas morning and has been playing it ever since. That must be what "happily ever after" means.



2. Once again, Michael W. Smith brings us a sweet combination of songs to lift the heart and soul. Easy on the ears.



3. I am amazed at any artist that can compose music from scratch and yet somehow attain the beautiful sound of the season. Michael W Smith has definitely accomplished this in his latest album, It's a Wonderful Christmas.
   
   This CD is composed of a selection of all new original songs for the season, written almost entirely by MWS himself. Every song is beautifully composed and reminds us why Christmas is one of the best times of the year.
   
   I recommend this product without any reservations. If you like listening to Christmas music and are not afraid to try something new, this is an excellent selection!



4. I don't understand why people just shoving into Josh Groban's Xmas CD. I couldn't stand listen that whole CD.
   I guess people prefer HYPE over "substance" and I just love this beautiful W. Smith CD.



5. I have most of Michael W. Smith's CD, especially all three of his Christmas CDs. It's a Wonderful Christmas is my favorite out of the three. It really gets the holiday season going. Along with Josh Groban, Michael W. Smith is another artist I'll listen to during the holidays. I prefer Michael W. Smith and Josh Groban over Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby any day.

5 comments about Mendelssohn: Songs Without Words.

1. In contrast to many other musicians, Mendelssohn had an evident, fruitful and fortunate association with the visual arts. Keeping in mind his education was conceived as part of the Renascence man, so we should not ignore his classical-humanistic education, so that explains why his Symphonies maybe basically, considered such arresting visual landscapes: the Scottish, Italian and Reform would seem confirm it.
   
   The Songs without words conform ostensibly, a great stylistic and conceptual unity. It could not be other way, noticing the fact John Field was essentially the grandfather of the nocturnes for piano and Chopin the most expressive and intimate explorer of the human soul, Mendelssohn had all those variables in mind and decided to create a portrait album. As other artists as Liszt and Goethe the exerted fascination after being in Venice would work out as febrile inspiration. Every little page of this kaleidoscopic reflects different state anima; they are structured and interweaved similarly respect Robert Schumann with his Carnival or Childhood scenes; with profound lyric and evocative accent, destined to recreate the tourist memory. He achieved then to make a voluminous album of feelings but without that marked introspective mood of Frederic Chopin, for instance.
   
   Daniel Barenboim decided to record these ebb tide piano pieces with personal conviction and lyric imagination. The result was simply refulgent and deeply inspiring.



2. Bach's 48 preludes and fugues seem to me to be to some extent a diary of the composer's feelings, and I get much the same impression from Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, which are also 48 in number. To me, they are beautiful and touching minor masterpieces and when I hear them I am not disturbed, or even visited, by the thought that they are not masterpieces to rank with Bach's. However I am not as exacting in evaluating a performance of them as I would be with Bach either, and when I willingly award this set 5 stars I know that I'm setting the bar lower. There are limits to what any interpreter, even the greatest, of the Songs Without Words can find in them, but for all that some interpreters are greater than others, and I happen to know even better accounts of some of these pieces than you will find on these two discs from Barenboim.
   
   It was high time in any case that I had a complete set of these lovely works. My collection up to now had only stretched to 14 of them, but - I have to say it again - those 14 are enough to teach me the difference between fine performances and great ones. Barenboim's accounts should be easily good enough for most of us most of the time, and in addition to the Songs he throws in the Children's Pieces plus a few other short numbers that Mendelssohn, for reasons known principally to himself, chose not to publish. With one solitary exception, Barenboim's touch is affectionate, warm and beautiful, and is well served by the 1974 recording. Speeds adopted sound about right to me in general, and the interpretations offered are full of insight and loving care, and free from eccentricity or egotism. Barenboim can be powerful when he needs to be, but the requirement for power is very limited in what we have here, and the overall impression that the set leaves is rightly one of tact, sympathy and enthusiasm. My single regret concerns my own favourite of all the Songs - the Duetto op 38/6. Something goes quite unaccountably wrong here. I'd call the speed too fast in the first place, and I would have liked the pseudo-voices brought out more strongly against the arpeggio accompaniment, but the real affront to my sensibilities comes when the two voices sing forte in octaves, and Barenboim bangs out the melody in a bad-tempered and cacophonous way that reminds me of one of Kissin's off-days.
   
   One botched effort out of 58 is not a bad ratio nevertheless. I can play the Duetto to my own satisfaction anyway, or I can listen to it on my old Turnabout LP played by Guiomar Novaes. Novaes seems to be all but forgotten these days, but she was a great player, recognised as such by no less than Debussy when she was a teenager. Her idea of the Duetto is slower than mine, indeed for an amateur like me the piece, which lies beautifully and naturally under the hands, seems practically to dictate its own speed. However it's not the tempo that makes the impression. In this piece as in many others starting with the very first of all the Songs, what transfixes me is the haughty and highlighted clarity of Novaes's melodic line and the magnificence of her left-hand tone. It also happens that in the disc that accompanies the biography of Serkin by Stephen Lehmann and Marion Faber there are two of the Songs in Novaes's selection - a solemn and gripping op 62/1 and a coruscating Spinning Song worthy of Horowitz or Cziffra for virtuosity. The point is simply this - there is an aura of greatness that surrounds the playing of Serkin and Novaes in practically anything they do. Admirable as he is, Barenboim is not quite in that league, although I don't consider the balance of advantage to be totally one-sided, and it may be that Barenboim actually makes a more appealing job of the Spring Song.
   
   Nevertheless I have only 14 of the Songs from Novaes, and all of two from Serkin, in somewhat antiquated sound at that. Barenboim gives me all 48 plus some bonus extras, played with love and appreciation of the soul of this beautiful and affecting music. This is a set I am going to be returning to for solace and balm to the spirit, I can tell already. The recorded sound is not wondrous, but it's good 1974 quality. The liner note is from the distinguished pen of Joan Chissell, but I can't say it seems to me to amount to much. Moreover she nails her colours to the mast with the ringing challenge `No 19th-century composer exceeded Mendelssohn in respect for Classical tradition, and such ordered modes of expression as fugue...' I dispute this strenuously. Not only are Mendelssohn's fugues not his best or most professional work, as Tovey makes very clear, they are inferior in respect for classical precedent and thoroughness of workmanship to Schumann's, as the same sage also points out. Besides which Brahms was a musical scholar of minute and profound learning, particularly steeped in the great German musical tradition, to an extent that Mendelssohn never rivalled. What Mendelssohn can claim is to be sui generis, what he does best he does better than anyone, and some of his most intimate musical thoughts are to be found in the Songs Without Words. For the pleasure and comfort they bring me I thank Mendelssohn's shade and the loving and expert guidance of Barenboim.



3. Until I purchased this bargain (two discs for the price of one), recording of Mendelssohn's "Songs without Words" that are played exquisitely by Daniel Barenboim, I, in the past, have listened mainly to Mendelssohn's chamber music, Concertos and/or Symphonies kind of forgetting about these most beautiful compositions, What a real pleasure this recording has been for me. I believe that Mendelssohn composed these" Songs without Words" (also included are Mendelssohn's "Kinderstucke", op 72, "Albumblatt", op. 117 and 2 short pieces) through out his short life. Daniel indeed plays all of the works including the "demanding" ones (there are surprisingly for me some very demanding ones) most beautifully never forgetting that the compositions are above all else "Songs". Daniel Barenboim always lets the melodies be heard above all else and there are some very beautiful melodies to hear.
   
   This recording was made in the early 1970s; however, DGG has done a wonderful job of transferring them to the CD format--the sound is rich, lush and clear.
   
   If you want to hear some beautiful compositions that are played most beautifully, buy this recording.



4. One of the most and romantic compositions ever written, "Songs without Words", interpreted by an excelent pianist. Enjoy it.



5. Beautifully interpreted, Barenbolm plays delicately and skillfully. This music is perhaps the epitome of the romantic classical era of piano music. Mendelssohn composed piece after piece of melodic and engaging piano music that eventually became this complete cycle. Some pieces may grab you more than others but overall, everyone of them expresses emotion. It surprises me that these pieces are not better known to anyone who loves classical piano music.

5 comments about Fresh Aire Christmas.

1. This is the first Mannheim Steamroller album I ever heard. I enjoy it quite a bit, but I have to say that other Mannheim Steamroller albums, especially the other Christmas ones, just don't do it for me. They often sound cheesy and plastic, perhaps it's just my taste. But I've always enjoyed this Christmas album regardless of my disappointment with their other music. I think it's a great blend of renaissance with electronic and choral music. In my mind it is truly enjoyable music, not just "fun" or "interesting". I also bought the piano sheet music and always enjoy playing the songs. Like I said before, I won't say this about the other albums, but I do think this one is a winner. So, coming from someone who is not a Mannheim Steamroller fan in the least, this is a great album and well worth listening to.



2. The name says it all! Never a bad choice with any of their music. I love them all, if you haven't tried a CD you MUST purchase one. If you don't you are missing out on one of the most fantastic experiences you can experience.



3. This is the first Mannheim Steamroller CD I've ever bought. It is exactly what I was looking for as far as Christmas songs. I highly recommend this CD if you love MS.



4. Mannheim Steamrollers Christmas music is at the top of my list to listen to at this special time.



5. Nice selections. Was looking for more hard driving music more of what I have come to expect from this orchestra. It was fine.

5 comments about The Three Tenors Christmas.

1. they are wonderful singers a delight to the ears and doing Christmas music made Christ mas even better



2. Album is great. For any other holiday music, just listen to your local radio station that plays it during December.



3. This is a truly beautiful addition to my Christmas music collection. Can't wait to listen to it every day with the holidays approaching.



4. I am a huge fan of ALL of these guys ie; The Three Tenors. I am not a snob when it comes to music, I sit back and relax and enjoy. But man oh man, this was woeful ! Singing out of synch with the orchestra, exceptionally poor english, the wrong words even to one of the songs. No, sorry boys but this was a boo boo CD !!!!



5. The cd would not play all the songs. It would skip on serval of the selections.

No comments about The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1978.

5 comments about Nicky's Jazz for Kids.

1. I rarely write reviews, but just had to write about this amazing CD. It's not your typical kiddie-fare. My three kids (ages 4, 6, and 8) listen to this one over and over again, and my husband and I are hooked, too. We are not into jazz at all, but the songs here are so catchy and fun. It's cool enough that you could even play it at an adult function, and everyone would like it. In fact, I'm buying it for my mom, who is 64, because I know that she'll be singing it around the house in no time at all -- just like we do!



2. My grandson Carlos love this CD. He is four years old and has learned half the songs.This is a great way to introduce a variety of music .



3. Not only do my children expand their horizons by listening to jazz, but I am able to listen to the cd over and over and over, and over some more every single day. My son-3- just loves it and asks for it every time we get in the van. Once the cd starts, he starts singing and doesn't want anybody singing or talking so that he can hear all of it again. Needless to say, my daughter, who is two loves it as much. Highly recommend this to anyone. By the way, we have to have it in the van and in the house, along with other favorites.



4. I love this cd!
   It's a great cd for everyone...I love it and the kids love it.
   This is real grown-up music with kid friendly selections.
   
   I highly recommend this one and
   I hope it leads you to more great jazz!



5. Our son isn't big enough to fully appreciate this CD yet (he is 10 months old) but his parents love it! We play this for him during mealtime and all of us have a good time. We sing along, he smiles (and sometimes eats) and we are all entertained. My husband is a musician and is a critical music consumer...this rated five stars from him as well.

4 comments about Celtic Women: Beautiful Carols.

1. I ordered my product on December 7, 2007. It was shipped immediately, but I did not receive it until January 2, 2008. It was in perfect shape, but a little late for Christmas. Not your fault.



2. The Celtic Women were superb in this recording. I went out and bought the rest of their music.



3. As usual Celtic Women provide inspirational music with such wonderful
   voices. I highly recommend this group to anyone who enjoys listening
   to purity in sounds and voices



4. I was very pleased with the cd when it arrived. Came in a timely manner and in excellent condition.

5 comments about Menotti: Amahl and the Night Visitors.

1. Having seen the original TV production of Amahl as a kid, I have very fond and tender memories of this story, and I find the music to be absolutely delightful - profound but in a very accessible and somewhat playful way. This recording brings back the spirit of Christmas to me instantly!



2. VIBRANT VOICES-WHIMSICAL WOODWINDS-TUNEFUL MELODIES AND A MIRACLE TOO!!!
   
   From the first reedy sound of the oboe mimicking the shepherd pipes to the first vocal notes by Rosemary Kuhlman (Amahl's mother) calling for Amahl to come inside, to Amahl's crystal clear boy soprano (Chet Allen)response, we are drawn into the musical story of a little crippled boy and his own personal miracle.
   
   If no one had heard of Gian Carol Menotti prior to this work, as of Christmas Eve, 1951, most of the country became aware of him. He had, in fact written several successful operas before this one, but the medium of television really was a great boost to the success of Amahl.
   
   I have mentioned already the two main leads, but the other four singers fulfilled their specific roles in a very skillful manner. I particularly liked the voice of Andrew McKinley, tenor, who really projected the part of a rather silly and far-out slightly deaf Kaspar wonderfully well! The Chorus of Shepherds and Villagers sang the very attractive choral music in an up-beat manner and the Orchestra handled the accompaniment, which for the woodwinds was rather difficult, perfecto! While Menotti supervised all of the proceedings, Thomas Schippers pulled it all gloriously together. This is a landmark recording, and certainly a collectible.



3. Nothing else puts me in the Christmas spirit like listening to Menotti's tale of Amahl and the Night Visitors. The music is absolutely enchanting.



4. the cd has a very good audio quality, and for people that want to here the opera for practicing, this is a good product to buy.



5. This was a holiday staple in our house when I was growing up, and dated though it may be, this CD sounds better than the LP we had. It's an exquisite work of art.

5 comments about A Very Special Christmas.

1. I actually wanted this CD when I was in junior high, when it was released. I never did get it, but this year was adding to my Christmas CD collection and thought it was about time!
   
   You will recognize at least half of the songs from what you hear on the radio during Christmas. Great songs by Bon Jovi, John Cougar Melloncamp, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, The Pointer Sisters etc. I think this is a great addition to any Christmas CD collection!



2. This CD had alot of my favorite Christmas songs on it. I love it!!!



3. I really enjoyed this CD over the Christmas Holidays. It features all the original artists. I especially enjoyed Santa Baby by Madonna. I have heard other versions that I don't like as well. When I ordered it I didn't expect it so soon. It came within a week. Great Service.



4. I REALLY PURCHASED THIS CD SPECIFICALLY FOR STEVIE NICKS RENDITION OF SILENT NIGHT WHICH I THINK IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL OTHERWISE, THE REMAINDER OF THE CD IS QUITE NICE



5. The original "A Very Special Christmas". I remember buying the LP when it first came out and loved it so much that I decided to get the CD recently. Still a classic. Great Album.

5 comments about The Three Tenors Christmas.

1. When these three get together nothing less than greatness should be expected. this has greatness



2. Without doubt the three greatest tenors on the planet today particularly the gorgeous voice of Placido Domingo! In this Christmas programme they are supported by a Master Conductor, and accompanied by a truly superb Choir. Certainly a DVD to own and to be placed in a prominent spot in my library.



3. OK, the whole Three Tenors franchise was an exercise in shark-jumping, so the title and one-star rating may be beside the point. This whole venture was never much more than high camp, and if that's your taste, you can't do better than this DVD. When I tuned in to a PBS broadcast (how proud I am that our fine public television folks use this as a fundraising device) my wife's first reaction was that it seemed like a Saturday Night Live spoof (actually, even SNL did better, with a remarkably lovely rendition of Adeste Fideles with Pavarotti and Vanessa Williams back around 1999). Watching these fellows sing Winter Wonderland or Sleigh Ride, it's hard not to die from laughter (sort of like when they sang My Way in their Dodger Stadium show). Well produced, but if you want great Christmas-season music making, I'd refer you to Pavarotti's 1978 concert in Montreal's Notre Dame Basilica (a PBS staple for much of the 1980s and 90s), and I'll be forever happy that I heard the great Domingo sing Siegmund in Washington last year.



4. Excelente CD !!!
   if you are looking for the best Christmas songs in a very charming way and with the best tenors of the world then GO FOR IT.



5. The visuals of Paris are stunning and beautiful. The visuals of the orchestra is movingly wonderful. The visuals of the singers is stunning. So often on TV infomercials, one sees sales of CD music while a video of the original singer is displayed. Listening to the music alone is one experience, but listening and watching the singer sing is a whole other experience that transcends simply listening. The Three Tenors lifts one to a higher standard above the listening which is also heavenly.